Cabernet Sauvignon
Vineyard Selection
Paso Robles, California, USA
2005
15.0%
$12.99 -- Weaver Street Market, Chapel Hill, NC
Color: Deep garnet
Nose: Blackberries, meaty charcoal, heat
Body: Dense, sticky even
Front: Tart raspberries
Middle: Smoky
Back: Ripe berries
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Hybrid cork-plastic; this bottle's had some weird insertion distortions (see at right). [I visited Eberle in May 2008 and, at their tasting counter, found that all of their corks have this odd, somewhat suggestive feature.]
This wine is berry-centric; none of that Napa vanilla or cinnamon. It has a nice structure, though, with the stinging fruit up front and a mellower finish. There may be more stuff going on in here than I'm tasting--it's about 65 degrees in the house so the wine never really got up to "room temperature" as I understand it.
[I had another bottle a few weeks later and it was delightful; a little chocolate taste coming in at the finish this time.]
